The present invention relates to printing and graphic arts generally and more particularly to apparatus for page composition and printing and apparatus for printing control.
The production of a book or magazine involves a large number of processes. The processes may be grouped into five general categories: prepress, plate preparation, press set up or xe2x80x9cmake readyxe2x80x9d; press control operations; and postpress operations.
In prepress, the principal processes are graphics, image and text editing and composition. In recent years, this area has undergone revolutionary changes through application of computer technology. State of the art systems for graphics and image editing and composition, as well as the specific functions of scanning, image processing and plotting include systems manufactured and sold by Scitex Corporation Ltd., Herzlia, Israel, such as, respectively, the systems sold under the trademarks Smart Scanner, Assembler and Raystar.
Plate preparation involves a technique known as imposition or signature assembly, which refers to the arrangement of pages on a film used to produce a printing plate. The present state of the art in signature assembly is the use of large and expensive machinery requiring highly skilled operators. Presently available signature assembly machinery involves the following steps: exposure of each of a plurality of separations (such as C, M, Y and K) for each of a plurality of pages to be arranged on a single plate; and subsequently, for each separation, such as C, feeding the exposed plurality of pages to an expose and repeat device such as the Misomex Master S Series, commercially available from Misomex North America Inc., Rosemont, Ill. The expose and repeat device is operative to arrange the plurality of exposed C separations, corresponding to the plurality of pages to be arranged on a single plate, at precisely determined positions on a film and to reproduce the C separations at the precisely determined positions by a photographic process.
The C printing plate is produced by contact exposure of the film. The signature is proofed prior to exposure of the plate. The plate, once exposed, is often found to be imperfect and therefore generally requires quality inspection and defect repair processes. The plate preparation process is repeated in order to produce M. Y and K plates.
Press set-up or xe2x80x9cmake-readyxe2x80x9d takes place after preparation of the printing plate, and involves scanning of each printing plate to obtain information necessary for press set-up. This information includes the variation of the dot percentage over each plate, which determines the required ink flow for that plate.
Press control involves adjustments to the printing press which are normally made by a pressman examining the printed output from the press or by automatic press control systems such as the SPM 700, commercially available from Gretag Data and Image Systems, CH-Regensdorf, Switzerland. Automatic press control systems are operative to scan the printed output from the press compare it to a reference, such as a signature proof, and make suitable adjustments to the printing press. Post press processes include the folding, cutting and binding of the press output.
A great number of patents exist in the area of prepress. These include co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,924 which describes method and apparatus for screen generation, co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,709 which describes an internal drum laser plotter, and co-assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 044,428 which describes a color digital scanner.
Various processes in the production of printed matter are discussed in the following publications, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference:
Alfred Furler, Folding in Practice, in collaboration with STAHL GMBH and Co., 3rd Edition, Germany, 1983;
William Schreiber, Fundamentals of Electronic Imaging Systems, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1986;
R. K. Molla, Electronic Color Separation, RK Publications, 1988; and
Michael H. Brill (Ed.), Perceiving, Measuring and Using Color, SPIE Proceedings, Vol. 1250, Billingham, Wash., USA, February 1990;
Robert A. Ulicheney, Digital Halftoning and Physical Reconstruction Function, Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, USA, June 1986; and
Raymond Blair and Charles Shapiro (Eds.), The Lithographerxe2x80x99s Manual, GATF, USA, 1980.
A state of the art printing press is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,211 to Pensavacchia et al. Pensavacchia et al mention printing apparatus which is intended to achieve complete computer control over the entire printing process, including plate generation, ink regulation and the start-up, print, hold, shut-down and clean-up stages of the actual printing operation. Pensavacchia et al also refer to a press including a workstation which allows an operator to input a representation of an original picture to be printed. The workstation may include a CRT display and internal memory for storing image data so that the impression to be printed may be previewed before printing and a keyboard via which the operator may key in instructions regarding the particular press run such as the number of copies to be printed or the number of colors in the printed copies. The workstation also is intended to allow complete control over the operating modes of the press including printing plate imaging, press startup procedure, ink flow regulation, dampening, print, pause and shutdown and clean-up sequences.
Computer technology has also been proposed for use in facilitating certain stages of the imposition process as described in European Published Patent Application 0309196, published Mar. 29, 1989, European Published Patent Application 0348908, published Jan. 3, 1990 and in U.K. Patent 2128843, published on May 2, 1984. U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,991 describes one type of optical imposition machine employing transparencies.
The present invention seeks to provide an integrated computerized system for carrying out multiple stages of a printing process. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the integrated computerized system is capable of carrying out functions in all stages of the printing process from pre-press to press control.
There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention an integrated computerized system for use in printing including apparatus for providing at least one digital representation of at least one page, digital storage apparatus for storing the at least one digital representation of the at least one page, imposition apparatus for receiving at least one digital representation of at least one page and arranging the at least one digital representation of the at least one pages in accordance with a desired plate layout, thereby to define a plate image, and press set-up apparatus for extracting from the at least one digital representation of at least one page and providing to a printing press, press set-up data.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention an integrated computerized system for use in printing and including apparatus for providing at least one digital representation of at least one page, digital storage apparatus for storing the at least one digital representation of at least one page, imposition apparatus for receiving the at least one digital representation of at least one page and arranging the at least one digital representation of at least one page in accordance with a desired plate layout, thereby to define a plate image, and press control apparatus for automatically monitoring the printed output of the printing press and automatically providing adjustments to printing press registration and ink flow controls in accordance therewith.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the system also includes press control apparatus for automatically monitoring the printed sheet provided by the printing press and for providing adjustments to printing press registration and ink flow controls in accordance therewith.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the at least one digital representation of at least one page includes a plurality of digital representations of a corresponding plurality of pages.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the at least one digital representation of at least one page includes at least one digital representation of a signature marking.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the at least one digital representation of a signature marking includes a digital representation of a control strip.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus for providing includes editing apparatus for receiving at least one of text and graphics and providing an edited page layout.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the editing apparatus includes a scanner and/or a workstation receiving an input from a scanner and operator inputs and being operative to provide a digitally storable page layout.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the press set-up apparatus includes data base apparatus for taking into account characteristics of at least one of inks and substrates to be used by the press.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the press set-up apparatus also includes apparatus for taking into account characteristics of the press.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the press control apparatus includes apparatus for extracting information from the at least one digital representation of at least one page, apparatus for comparing a press output to the extracted information, and apparatus for adjusting the press in accordance with an output indication provided by the apparatus for comparing.
There is also provided in accordance with yet a further preferred embodiment of the present invention an integrated computerized system for use in process and monochrome color printing and including apparatus for providing at least one digital representation of at least one page, digital storage apparatus for storing at least one digital representation of at least one page, imposition apparatus for receiving at least one of the at least one digital representations of at least one page and arranging the at least one digital representation of at least one page in accordance with a desired plate layout, and automatic screen characteristic selection apparatus operative to select at least one screen characteristic for each of a plurality of regions defined within at least one separation of the at least one digital representation of at least one page.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the system includes automatic screen characteristic selection apparatus operative to locally select at least screen angles for each of at least one region in the plate layout based on the color content of the at least one region.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the imposition apparatus includes apparatus for providing a digital representation of the plate image and plate quality control apparatus for comparing the digital representation of the plate image to information extracted from the printed sheet provided by the printing press.
According to still a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided imposition apparatus including apparatus for receiving at least one digital representation of at least one page, apparatus for receiving a desired plate layout, and apparatus for providing a digital representation of a plate image corresponding to the at least one digital representation of the at least one page arranged in accordance with the desired plate layout.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus for receiving includes apparatus for receiving only a portion of at least one digital representation of at least one page and the apparatus for providing a digital representation includes apparatus for providing a digital representation of a portion of the plate image in accordance with the desired arrangement of the at least one page portion on the portion of the plate.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the imposition apparatus includes apparatus for receiving at least one digital representation of at least one page, apparatus for receiving information pertaining to a desired plate layout, and apparatus for providing a digital representation of a plate image corresponding to the at least one digital representation of the at least one page arranged in accordance with the desired plate layout.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the information includes at least information regarding folding characteristics and/or information regarding cutting characteristics, and/or information regarding binding characteristics.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the at least one digital representation of at least one page includes a plurality of digital representations of a corresponding plurality of pages and the imposition apparatus also includes apparatus for modifying the format of at least one of the plurality of digital representations of pages.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus for receiving information includes apparatus for providing a proof of at least the plate image and/or the plate layout.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the proof of the plate image includes an analog representation of the content of the at least one page derived from the digital representation of the content of the at least one page.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plate image includes a digital representation of at least one signature marking.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention color separation generating apparatus including apparatus for generating a color separation, the color separation defining a plurality of regions characterized in that at least one screen characteristic within a first individual one of the plurality of regions differs from the at least one screen characteristic within a second individual one of the plurality of regions.
There is further provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention automatic screen characteristic selection apparatus including apparatus for inspecting at least a portion of a representation of a color image, and apparatus for receiving an output indication from the apparatus for inspecting and using the output indication to select at least one screen characteristic for at least a portion of at least one separation of the color image.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus for inspecting is operative to inspect a portion of a color image and the apparatus for receiving is operative to select at least one screen characteristic for the corresponding portion of at least one separation of the color image.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus for receiving includes apparatus for selecting, for at least one separation of the color image, at least one screen characteristic for each of a plurality of regions of the color image such that the at least one screen characteristic within a first individual one of the plurality of regions differs from the at least one screen characteristic within a second individual one of the plurality of regions.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the representation of the color image includes a digital representation of the color image.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the at least one screen characteristic includes at least a screen angle, and/or a screen dot shape.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus for inspecting includes apparatus for inspecting the color content of at least a portion of a representation of a color image and the apparatus for receiving includes apparatus for selecting at least one screen characteristic for at least one separation of the color image according to the color content of the portion of the representation of the color image.
There is further provided in accordance with still a further preferred embodiment of the present invention signature characteristic unification apparatus including apparatus for inspecting at least a portion of a representation of a signature, and apparatus for modifying at least one image characteristic within at least one region of the representation of the signature, thereby to unify the at least one image characteristic over at least a portion of the signature.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, signature characteristic unification apparatus, the signature including a representation of a plurality of pages, the apparatus including apparatus for modifying at least one representation characteristic within at least one region of at least one first page from among the plurality of pages, thereby to unify the at least one image characteristic relative to at least one region of at least one second page from among the plurality of pages.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the at least one representation characteristic includes at least one color characteristic.
Still further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the at least one representation characteristic includes at least one spatial characteristic.
Additionally in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the at least one spatial characteristic includes a resolution of a color image.
There is also provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention an image reproduction method including the steps of providing a representation of an image, the representation including a digital indication of at least one location whose appearance is to be maintained, reproducing the image so as to automatically maintain the appearance of the location.
Further in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the representation of the image includes a digital representation of the image and the step of reproducing includes the step of providing the digital representation of the location to apparatus for reproducing the image.